Striking the Right Arcane Note on Kickstarter

There is a difference between “wanting” to wear high heels to a wedding and “having” to wear them all day at your job in the cranberry bog. (I’m really unsure of where I was going with this analogy, but I plan to try and make it work anyway.)

What I mean is the creators of Dungeons and Dragons tell us that all we “need” is the Player’s Handbook, a pencil, and our imaginations. But us players also “want” some tools that help us customize the experience to our tastes.

So you aren’t forced to back the Arcane Note project on Kickstarter, but you might want to, because it promises some great tools to help your D&D 5e game go beyond just a pencil. Or something. I don’t know. Why did I talk about high heels and cranberries?

Striking the Right Arcane Note on Kickstarter

First, what is Arcane Note? It’s a leather journal that is full of tools for your D&D 5e game such as a collapsible dice tray, a ruler that measures game feet, card holder pages, grid paper, cheat sheets and I’m sure a few stretch goals before the campaign ends.

Here is what drew me to the Kickstarter:

• Arcane Note is high quality. If you click through to the campaign, you’ll see that this isn’t some $2.99 competition notebook from Target. This is a really nice leather journal, and I’m going to pretend it is my Wizard’s spell book, because that’s what I want to do and I can.
• The creator has a keen eye for design. The font work, graphic design, layout, and presentation is really well done. This wasn’t just slapped together. Attention has been given to every element in order to make a nice product.
• Arcane Note would make a nice gift. It’s got an “upscale” so it feels like something really nice you hold onto, rather than something disposable you toss out. So it would make a nice gift for the DM that has everything.
• It’s practical as well. Us nerds love to scribble notes and make doodles, so we were going to get some type of notebook anyway. To have something that is designed for RPG play is simply gravy.

Striking the Right Arcane Note on Kickstarter

The creators of the Arcane Note Kickstarter are relatively new to D&D, but they’ve taken to the hobby fast and want to use their skills to create a product that they wish they would have had when they were first learning to play. This enthusiasm comes through in all the little tools and templates that are included in the journal.

And the designers have created some nice digital tools that they give away for free online. But they recognized that there is a play at the D&D table for something that is old school tactile.

I’m most excited about the journal itself, the dice tray, and the dry erase initiative card tents. But there is a slew of cards, and inserts, and doodads like that. It seems like a really nice project. The creator, Josh, seems like a really nice guy as well, and he’s enthusiastic about the project.

All we need to play D&D is the Player’s Handbook, a pencil, and out imagination. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t want some sweet accessories to trick it out.

Here the link to the Arcane Note Kickstarter. Get on it.